On the U.S. Super Tour, skiers from around the world compete for pride, money, and World Cup racing opportunities. Race events are broken into four periods throughout the winter, each occurring in one of four regions; Alaska, West, Midwest, and East. Periods II and IV encompass U.S. National Championships and U.S. Spring Nationals, while Period III is synonymous with the American Birkebeiner.
The highest level of annual competition in skiing is the FIS World Cup. The World Cup has four periods of racing, similar to the US Super Tour. After each period of racing, the leader of the overall Super Tour standings has the right to start in every race of the following World Cup period.
The Super Tour leader is a season-long competition based on accumulation of points from races. For each race the top 20 finishers are awarded points. During Period II and Period IV points are doubled to reflect the increased level of competition at a National Championship event.
On the World Cup the U.S. is generally allotted six starts per gender per race not including the Super Tour leader. These starts are mostly attained by objective qualification, based on previous World Cup standings. Remaining start positions are decided by the discretion committee, a group of coaches from across the country who compare race results from the Super Tour, World Cup, and other competitions.